We recently connected with Melanie Ammerman and Lauren Gall and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Melanie and Lauren, thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had to implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

Delegation is key to our success. It helped us grow our business tremendously. We know it works as we experienced it as did our clients. As our business grew, we started finding people that we trusted to take over tasks that we no longer had time for, weren’t good at, or just flat out didn’t enjoy doing like marketing and account management. Finally, in 2016, we started delegating everything to our team. That year, we grew by 97%! So, when we say delegation can help you grow your business and scale your business, we know it’s true and backed up with our own success. Because we delegated, we were able to do more over time. Delegating made our business more productive, which in turn made us capable of taking on more and more clients.

When we first started VaVa Virtual, we didn’t have a plan for growth. Like many entrepreneurs, we were too busy serving our existing clients and expanding our client base. That left little time to orchestrate a detailed plan for growth. We were winging it with no systems in place.

We then decided we needed to take steps to move forward and make investments in the business when we had the ability to do so. However, our lack of systems eventually put too much on our plates and those of our employees and subcontractors. We knew we had to start creating better processes. We knew we needed a plan and that’s what we did. Now, our strategic plan is documented. We set aside time to define growth goals and iron out better processes. And, we still try out ideas and see how they work for our business, but the process is more organized with better goals for growth. We’re agile and intentionally scale our business on a regular basis.

You might be one of those entrepreneurs we meet with every week who is desperate for help, but unsure of what to offload. Don’t convince yourself that continuing to do everything alone is easier than training someone to take over. It’s not, we promise! Delegation adds hours back into your day, reduces stress, and allows you to focus on scaling. Plus, the areas of business that you are least comfortable with are put into the hands of experts. That’s a win-win for you and your business. Think of it as an investment into your business rather than an expense.

You can’t change the past, but you can pave the way for the future. We say that because it’s important to continuously review the path you’ve taken, identify what has worked, and turn your mistakes into lessons. We treat everything as a lesson in our business, and it has changed the way we think about the steps we take.

It helps to always be aware of what’s happening in your business by keeping track of your numbers and analytics. Numbers tell a story. They indicate when strategies are successful and when it’s time to try a new one. Not only will you understand your business better, but you will be able to spot irregularities that may be cause for concern.

Standing out in today’s quick-moving and ever-changing marketplace takes creative thinking—especially if you’re trying to grow a new business. As a new business, you’re competing for attention. You’re trying to carve out market share and find a space in the market landscape for your business to live. Finding and implementing innovative ideas will help your new business get noticed even in a sea of other businesses trying to do the same thing. You need to be different. You need to be ahead of the curve. That might sound like a scary proposition, but with some thought and willingness to try out new ideas, innovation can help your business grow.

It’s also important to differentiate yourself from your competitors. One of the most important aspects of growing a business is meeting a need in the market while distinguishing your business from competitors. Unless you stumbled on a truly unique business idea or a huge gap in the marketplace, you likely already have competitors. Why should a potential customer choose your business over another? You need to understand what makes your business better and highlight that difference.

Looking at this problem creatively can help. Think about what works and doesn’t work for your competitors. Find solutions to the problems that they leave behind. Innovate on existing products and services or bring something brand new to the table. Just make sure these new solutions mesh well with the mission and vision of your business.

Try creative marketing strategies. Now that you’ve discovered what sets your business apart, you need to make sure your audience gets it. Think about how you can effectively demonstrate your differentiators. What creative marketing techniques might make sense for your business? Are there any grassroots, word-of-mouth, or guerilla marketing tactics that might be effective? Think of these things as you plan your marketing strategies.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

VaVa Virtual Assistants is a boutique Virtual Assistant agency with one simple goal: connecting business owners with high-performing Virtual Assistants (VAs.). VaVa Virtual Assistants is a team of network builders, overhead eliminators, and freedom creators for entrepreneurs who believe that business success and quality of life are not mutually exclusive goals. Lauren Gall and Melanie Ammerman launched VaVa Virtual in 2011 to the 7-figure business it is today to help clients achieve their personal version of work/life balance. Their future-focused, VA hiring model prioritizes sustainability and empowers business owners to source proven remote talent, break the vicious cycle of hustle culture, and reclaim what brings them joy, personally and professionally.

As a small women-owned business, VaVa is exceptionally proud to have a wonderfully diverse staff that doesn’t conform to one label. Our team of professionals celebrates diversity, we’re united in our shared commitment to excellence and innovation.

Melanie and Lauren have stood side-by-side with entrepreneurs as they accomplish goal after goal and watch their businesses reach new growth targets. Sharing in those experiences—not only the wins but the challenges as well—has offered them a unique perspective of how to succeed as a Virtual Assistant no matter the client or circumstances. Learn more at www.vavavirtual.com

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media plays a crucial role in your brand’s marketing strategy and we recognized that throughout the years. With over 2 billion users worldwide, your customers are already there. The beauty of it is that you can reach customers and demographics you wouldn’t ordinarily reach with a website alone, therefore increasing sales potential and new clients. We put a social media strategy together that continues to grow and reach our target audience. Plus we focus on always engaging with our current and past clients as well to keep us front and center.

Just a few of the things we did include:

We boosted our social media engagement by identifying our target audiences. When you realize it, your content has your name, but it’s FOR the viewer. This may be social media, but it’s still marketing, and a key to this is your target demographic. Create multiple user personas that fit your ideal customer, and some that fit who will probably make the purchase decision – these two aren’t always the same!

We invested in social media engagement. Don’t be afraid to boost an ad. Popular services like Instagram will even recommend which posts to boost based on their performance. You can use these boosted ads to target your specific audience from the personas you have created. This guarantees the highest possibility of your content getting in front of whom you want, and since it’s tailored to their interests it creates a higher ROI. We do this regularly.

Make yourself sharable. Non-branded content receives more attention and engagement as the user doesn’t feel like they’re being sold to – a big turnoff to younger generations who use social media the most. During your regular posting schedule, post a few pieces that don’t contain any information specific to you. Yes, this is potentially giving away information, but it leads back to your company/organization. This can be an industry-specific post or something interesting like #FunFactFriday. The goal of this post is purely to boost engagement and your profile notability.

Be sure to have engaging Call to Actions to boost your social media engagement – As always, it’s important to include a call to action that creates a sense of urgency. Many consumers visit your social media profiles before heading to your website to get a better understanding of your brand before they make a purchase. The key is to make the whole process from CTA to purchase engaging. Otherwise, it might demotivate your prospects and prevent them from completing a purchase.

Also, we feel it’s important to choose which social media platforms are the most likely to reach your audience. Then create a realistic plan that you or your team can follow. It helps to create an editorial calendar to plan out and schedule content. The best approach is to create a mix of content that provides added value to your audience while educating them on your company and what you do best. Make sure to not just post but to engage. The ultimate goal is to build a social media community.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Keeping current customers engaged is essential to business growth. You may think that since your repeat customers are already spending money with you, there’s not much more you need to do. You’d rather focus on pulling in new business than attending to the business you already have. That logic makes sense. We definitely support attracting more business however you get it! However, your existing customers should not be overlooked as an opportunity to grow your business. With a little attention and encouragement, happy customers can become a voice for your brand and a magnet for new business.
So it’s important to identify your loyal customers or clients. Define what a loyal customer means to your business. For you, it might come down to dollars and cents. Whoever spends the most with you might be your top priority. You could also look at the frequency of sales. If repeat customers are the backbone of what you do, customers with the most orders might be more valuable.

Consider how your customers communicate about your brand. What platforms are they using? Can they reach your target audience? Find the ones who understand the mission of your brand and where you’re headed. Find the ones who are capable of speaking in your brand’s voice. Imagine how they could help your brand with some encouragement! Then reward their loyalty. Reaching out to your loyal customers can also be more casual. Enter them in an email drip campaign that offers discount codes or free downloadable resources. Reach out on social media to thank them for their shout-outs. Send them a PR kit when you have a new launch.

Your loyal customers already love you, but you want to emphasize that relationship. Help these customers recognize the important part they have played in your business. Defining this relationship for your customers will encourage them to view themselves as integral to your brand–if they don’t already feel that way. Ensuring that your loyal customers identify with your brand will help when it comes to asking for favors and benefiting from their advocacy.

Next, cultivate brand advocates. Now that you have identified your loyal customers and shared the love, it’s time to enjoy the benefits of having such a great customer base! You can expect this to happen naturally. Your best customers will already be recommending your brand to their friends. They’ll be posting about your brand on social media. They’ll be writing reviews about how much they love your products and services. That’s what it means to be a brand advocate.

Don’t be afraid to directly ask for support as well! The process of asking for help can always be a little awkward, but just remember that these customers already love you. Plus, all they can say is no. It’s easier if you’ve devoted time to developing strong relationships with them. Especially for brands with meaningful missions, loyal customers will be more than willing to help you out. All you have to do is ask. Request reviews. Source referrals. Encourage word-of-mouth suggestions. Ask to use customer photos or other content that involves your products or services. Decide what will have the most impact for your brand and industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://vavavirtual.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vavavirtual/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vavavirtualassistants/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/va-va-virtual-assistants/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/vavavirtual
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@VaVaVirtual